Up to 85% of enterprises in the processing-manufactoring and construction sectors expected better and stable business situation in the third quarter of this year, while only 15% predicted that the situation may be tougher, according to a survey conducted by the General Statistics Office (GSO).

The survey also found that for in the third quarter, 44.9% of the firms surveyed said that they eye a rise in new orders, while 13.8% forecast a decrease. The order balance indicator in the non-State sector is 31.6%, while that in the FDI sector is 30.8% and in State-owned sector is 26.4%.

Meanwhile, in the third quarter, 20.2% of enterprises expected a rise in the number of their employees, while 9.3% forecast a fall.

The GSO said that although business and production have recovered after the COVID-19 pandemic with a high demand for production and construction materials, domestic steel has surged due to China’s decrease of production and export.

Meanwhile, petroleum price rise has led to an increase in the prices of other construction materials, directly impacting the cost of projects.

The GSO advised the Government to apply more drastic measures to stabilise the input material prices for the construction sector, while rolling out solutions to speed up construction projects, and creating favourable conditions for businesses to access capital from the State budget.

GSO’s quarterly production and business prospect survey covers 6,500 enterprises in the processing and manufacturing industries and 6,799 enterprises in the construction industry. In the second quarter, the survey received response from 5,635 processing-manufacturing firms and 6,315 construction companies./.